Chapter 13 - No One Wants to Be Unpleasant - Strength for the Journey
The chronically unpleasant individual may reach a point where they entirely doubt the Truth of our title, but Truth it remains. Anyone can, at the very least, begin the process of authentically developing a less sour & discontent approach to life.
A full faith & allegiance to the concept of inevitability is one of the greatest self-created disabilities of modern life. Why do anything different, when it's all pointless anyway? This sentiment, while perhaps not mentally acknowledged by all, runs deep through our daily behaviors. Maybe one has not completely embraced pointlessness, but self-improvement is certainly not easy or comfortable, and that is often enough motivation to remain stagnant.
The instant one has decided not to take the step we know (at some level) is vital to our growth, for whatever well-honed excuse (or series of excuses), an infinite parade of supporting 'facts' begin to present themselves, creating a self-sustaining internal system of deceit & learned helplessness.
This system is the feedback loop of inevitability. "I can't do anything about this one issue, because that would entail dealing with an underlying issue", and beneath THAT issue lies an awkward layer cake of problems, hastily founded upon an intertwined web of distortions and fabrications.
The situation expands to such a daunting state, and we become so ill-equipped to take any sort of countering action, that over time, the perception of helplessness seems to be fundamentally true. If, as we so deeply suspect, it is not true, we are too far invested to admit our dishonesty. We have built our lives on the proverbial sand, crossing our fingers tightly in the vain hope that life will not send the waves to wash away our mess.
In fact, though, we can only hope that some pressure will arrive to assist us in changing this desperate state of affairs, and to that end, our subconscious labors tirelessly to sabotage this great house of cards. Its efforts are rarely appreciated, as we become irate at these attempts to communicate our haphazard & dangerous circumstances to us.
Thankfully, Nature, our own subconscious, the Divine Principle, along with the natures of those around us, give us no quarter. We will have to face the undeniable fact that nothing is inevitable. We have choices, and we persist in making terrible ones, all while sighing and pointing out how we have 'no choice', 'things just happen, no matter what you do, you've 'gotta do what you've gotta do', etc. Lies. All lies.
Society today is based upon the shared agreement that as we support others' deceptions, they will in turn support ours. This is naturally a hazardous approach to human relations. The very bedrock of our culture is lying. It is the dominant and essential skill that we spend so much time focused on indoctrinating our youth with, and reinforcing through every sort of media channel, thought leader, and cultural work imaginable.
Some things are truly ugly, and some things are truly Beautiful. To acknowledge that, would be to agree with the reality that our behaviors, our actions, and our long developed personas very definitely fall on the side of the ugly. We feel we cannot face this reality. We simply cannot do anything about the situation.
Who really knows though? We might actually be capable of improvement, if only we would just make a solid, sustained attempt. Perhaps there is yet wisdom in the world, perhaps all is not such a lost cause after all. All we have is hope... Just take a look around at the alternative.
No one wants to be unpleasant, but it seems many do not wish to make the effort to be pleasant. We have made the baseline of behavior so low, that what in former days was an unquestionable requirement to live among other humans, has become completely impossible for the average individual to sustain for a period longer than a few minutes.
This is all quite terrible. Let's make an effort to do something about it.